Gaseous fuel powered engine applications are common in industry. Some of these applications require a cryogenic pump to transfer liquefied natural gas from a tank to an engine fuel system. Generally, for a hydraulically driven cryogenic pump, it is desirable to know if the pump is achieving full stroke with an intended stroke velocity. If too much hydraulic supply pressure is applied to actuate a hydraulic piston in a pump, the stroke velocity of the hydraulic piston will be higher than allowed for by design, which will degrade pump components or even lead to failure of the pump. If too little hydraulic supply pressure is applied to the hydraulic piston, the stroke velocity may be below a desired velocity or the pump may not perform a full hydraulic piston stroke, which may cause the pump to run inefficiently or not at all. A closed loop pressure control system for maintaining a desired difference in hydraulic and discharge pressure within a hydraulic system can be achieved, but such strategies may not capture other effects that affect stroke velocity such as physical wear, hydraulic oil viscous temperature effects, and offset errors in sensors.